I couldn’t hold back my eyeroll now. “Seriously, Flint! Complicated? What are you? A teenage girl! Spill!”
“It’s stupid. I know that now,” he confessed, “but at the time, it was a very big deal. Stark and I were both young, virile wares. There were a lot of hormones involved back then, and you should have seen Heidi.” He whistled at the very memory of her. “She was exceptionally… developed for her age.”
I could have done without the visual of Flint air juggling watermelons to help me understand what he meant.
“Alright, alright, that’ll be enough of that. Hands ten and two on the wheel before you get us into an accident remembering the painfully endowed Heidi,” I groused.
Grinning, Flint dutifully did as he was told.
“So that’s it? You’re still not talking because of a Swedish exchange student in twelfth grade?”
“She was from Holland,” Flint corrected, “but the rest sounds about right, yes.”
I was floored. “And after all these years, you can’t get over it?”
“Oh, I’m over it,” Flint emphatically stated. “It’s Stark who can’t let that shit go.”
“I’m guessing by that smug expression on your face that Heidi chose to date you over your best friend.” I’m sure that would hurt anyone’s feelings, if the roles were reversed.
Flint shrugged. “It seems Heidi was more into guys who didn’t have to be drawn and quartered to get them to speak. Though, I can’t say she and I ever did much talking, if you catch my drift.”
I made a choking sound in the back of my throat. “Stop right there! I don’t want to hear any more about you and Heidi getting to know each other… intimately.”
“Boy did we ever!” Flint said with a sparkle in his eye and a grin on his lips. “Did I mention that Heidi was a gymnast back in Holland?”
I was beginning to wish I’d never asked about the quarrel. “You need to apologize to him,” I advised Flint then.
His brow creased at my words. “Me? Why?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” I snapped irritably.
“Why is the Heidi situation my fault? I can’t help it that the ladies find me so irresistible.” He pointed to his pocket toremind me about all the napkins with women’s cell numbers stuffed inside.
“You’re not apologizing for women liking you, Flint. You’re apologizing for competing with your friend for someone who meant next to nothing to you,” I firmly stated.
“How do you know Heidi meant nothing to me? I could have loved her,” the stubborn ware half-heartedly argued.
Giving him a hard look, I said, “Please! You were in lust with the girl, not love. You barely even talked to her when you were together. You were too busy sucking face!”
Flint chuckled. “Like you and Ethan are any different. I seem to recall the two of you taking a long detour after lunch the other day. I wonder if you were discussing politics or the plight of the indigenous peoples of Montana?”
“Don’t compare my mate and I to your semester long fling, Flint. Even you know the difference between love and like.”
“Alright, alright,” Flint capitulated. “I get it. But I still don’t see why I have to apologize. He’s just as much to blame as I am.”
I sighed as I leaned against the leather interior of my seat. “If you say so.”
I wasn’t their leader. I couldn’t make the two men apologize and make up. Either they wanted to put this nonsense fight behind them, or they didn’t. It didn’t really affect me either way.
The usually verbose Flint seemed more contemplative as we sped down the dirt, pothole ridden backroads. While he didn’t admit it out loud, I think my words about apologizing to Stark had really gotten to him.
Flicking on the radio, I began to toggle through the stations. Without satellite access this far out in the woods, the pickings were slim. Just as I found a station that was semi-interesting, I noticed Flint took a left turn about two roads sooner than the one Ethan’s cabin was on.
“Um, Flint, what are you doing? You took the wrong turn back to the cabin.” It was an easy enough mistake to make. All these roads looked nearly identical to one another.
When I looked up, I noticed that Flint’s gaze was boomeranging between the rearview mirror and front window.
“I’m taking a shortcut,” he answered distractedly.
